The present inventor filed an application about electric gas lighter with Ser. No. 09/193,418 on Nov. 18, 1998, U.S. Pat. No. 5,975,888, which is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The gas lighter comprises a gas fuel reservoir 2, a high-voltage circuit device 3, and a housing 1 enclosed gas fuel reservoir 2 and high-voltage circuit device 3. Gas fuel reservoir 2 comprises a gas outlet 20, a hose 22 coupled to gas outlet 20, an ignition tube 24 in the front coupled to hose 22, and a pivot plate 26 on top of gas outlet 20. A conductive tube 16 and a sleeve 14 are put on ignition tube 24 sequentially. High-voltage circuit device 3 is powered by a source (e.g., cell) 4 for providing current to ignition tube 24. An ignition button 10 is partially raised above housing 1. An electrical path from source 4 to high-voltage circuit device 3 is formed by depressing ignition button 10. Ignition button 10 is always in contact with pivot plate 26. A movable safety button 12 having one end coupled to a spring is provided adjacent ignition button 10. In a locked position, ignition button 10 is secured by the laterally projected member from the bottom of safety button 12 by virtue of spring, thus preventing inadvertent ignition of ignition button 10.
In use, first push safety button 12 rearward to disengage safety button 12 from ignition button 10. Then depress ignition button 10 to enable the electrical path from source 4 to high-voltage circuit device 3 to generate a high-voltage current which is flowed to ignition tube 24 for generating an electric arc. At the same time, the blockage of gas outlet 20 by pivot plate 26 is lifted such that gas is immediately flowed to ignition tube 24 through hose 22. Thus a spark is generated at the mouth of ignition tube 24, resulting in the ignition of gas lighter.
However, the previous design suffered from a disadvantage. In detail, safety button 12 may be inadvertently pushed rearward to disengage from ignition button 10 by children. To the worse, ignition button 10 is also depressed thereafter. Accordingly, as stated above, the electrical path from source 4 to high-voltage circuit device 3 is formed to generate a spark at the mouth of ignition tube 24. Thus, it is desirable to provide an improved electric gas lighter with novel safety mechanism in order to overcome the above drawbacks of prior art.